One of the most common health problems among people today is obesity. The condition is linked to ingestion of a greater number of calories than are expended. Fat comprises a concentrated source of calories in a person's diet, and thus, there remains a continuing need to reduce and/or replace fat in food products. One way of reducing and/or replacing fat content in food products is through the employment of shortening compositions that comprise non-digestible fats (e.g., sucrose polyesters). Because replacing higher percentages of fat with sucrose polyesters (“SPE”) will correspondingly lower the number of calories in a given shortening composition, there is a continuing need for quality shortening compositions that comprise higher percentages of sucrose polyesters.
Shortening compositions generally contain a hard stock fraction, an intermediate melting fraction (“IMF”), and a liquid oil fraction. One established way to create a sucrose polyester containing shortening is to replace at least a portion of the intermediate melting fraction with a sucrose polyester blend. Traditionally, these sucrose polyester containing shortenings only comprised up to 35% sucrose polyester, but recently, there has been interest in producing shortening compositions that have higher percentages of sucrose polyesters (e.g., 40% or more sucrose polyester). Shortening compositions that comprise higher percentages of sucrose polyesters (e.g., a shortening composition with 75% sucrose polyester) have been formulated in the past, however, the food products that employed these shortening compositions commonly have exhibited the drawbacks of 1) palatability concerns (e.g., an undesirable, waxy mouth feel) and/or 2) workability concerns (e.g., incompatibility with food processing equipment).
Sucrose polyesters, because of their bulk and shape, form different crystalline structures having melting profiles that are quite dissimilar to certain natural fats and oils. By partially hydrogenating liquid sucrose polyesters, it is possible to increase the melting point by converting some of the sucrose polyesters' unsaturated carbon chains into trans and saturated carbon chains. This hydrogenation process results in an overall increase in the melting profile of the resulting sucrose polyester, which leads to a high solids content at body temperatures (approximately 37° C.). When these partially hydrogenated sucrose polyesters are added into shortening formulations as an intermediate melting fraction, such a high solids content leads to palatability concerns (e.g., an undesirable, waxy mouth feel) in the food products that incorporate the shortenings. This is particularly disadvantageous when the shortenings are employed to produce frostings, icings, baked goods or other confections because such products are favored by the consumer, in part, due to a particular mouth feel associated with these types of products (i.e., the ability for the product to melt in a consumer's mouth). Further, when shortenings comprising higher percentages of sucrose polyesters are employed to produce frostings, icings, dough, baked goods and other confections, the workability (e.g., plasticity, shear resistance) of the products that incorporate the shortenings may become incompatible with food processing equipment. For example, when a traditional shortening that comprises 75% sucrose polyester is employed in a pie crust dough application, the dough is often too sticky for compatibility with high speed processing equipment.
A balance between palatability and workability in food products employing a shortening with a high percentage of sucrose polyester is a difficult endeavor, as alleviation of one drawback may increase the prominence of the other drawback. Accordingly, there remains a continuing need for shortenings that comprise higher percentages of sucrose polyester, wherein the shortenings have rheological properties that allow a manufacturer to desirably work with and incorporate the shortenings into certain food products, while also providing the consumer a desirable mouth feel when eating such food products.